Rolex Explorer 1016

Vintage Rolex Explorer 1016 Steel Oyster

19,545.86 Circa 1967 164424 Vintage Mens Papers Only Stainless Steel Acrylic 36mm Stainless Steel Smooth 1587XXX Black w/ Roman hour markers, Tritium hands & Tritium lume 1570 Automatic Fixed No Date Stainless Steel Oyster This Explorer is in overall great, honest vintage condition consistent with its age. The case is in good condition with normal signs of wear. The inside caseback is stamped "1016" and "IV.66" and serial and the numbers are clearly visible between the lugs. The dial has remained glossy and has developed some patina, light wear and light scratches. The lume has aged to an even and attractive yellow color. Some of the lume plots show signs of degradation/ are missing some lume (six o'clock has a small spot missing in the center). The hands have developed light patina; the lume on the hands match the lume on the dial and when looking closely the lume in the hands show some wear/ slight cracking. This watch has a rivet Oyster 7206 bracelet with 10 links and no. 80 end links. The back of the clasp is stamped "1.68" indicating it is from 1968. The bracelet is in great condition with some normal wear and some stretch between the links which is not uncommon. Rolex introduced the 1016 Explorer in 1959 and it was in production until 1989 making it one of the longest running produced references from the brand. At the beginning of the run Rolex made the dials glossy and then switched to the matte style around 1966. The example we have here has a beautiful glossy dial and is from 1966, so it would have been the last variation of the glossy dial before Rolex did the switch to the matte version. The watch we have here is in lovely condition and is fresh to market coming from the original owner. The owner told us he lost the box over the years, but managed to save the punched chronometer certification papers (with corresponding serial and movement numbers), the guarantee (with corresponding serial number hand-written in) and original receipt. When examining the paperwork, we can see the watch was originally sold in New York City at Don Laviano on April 5, 1968 with the retailer stamp on the Guarantee matching the receipt. We also notice that the retailer made a mistake on the receipt writing "Submariner" instead of "Explorer" and the original owner mentioned he never had a Sub, so it was a typo that was overlooked all these years. We see the original cost of the watch at $175 - get us a time machine!  The movement on this watch is stamped "ROW" which was the US import mark for Rolex back in the day so it makes sense that this example was retailed in New York City. It's interesting that this example came on a Swiss rivet bracelet when we often see these US destined watches on the C&I USA version.  1016 Explorer's are some of the most sought after vintage watches out there and we are pleased to offer this fresh to market example from the original owner with papers.